Ecuador – The. Amazon – that’s a record!

Dad said to me that just him and me were going to the jungle but then it turned out we were all going to the jungle. But I still think I’m going to like all the parrots and the snakes and sloths and tarantulas, so I think I’m going to like it. Dad said I will like it it’s going to be fun.! !!

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Leaf cutter ants cut leaves 50 times their body weight. These amazing creatures take it back to the nest and plant it to make  fungus, they do not eat the leaf they turned it into fungus and eat that. The nest can grow up to 9 m deep. All the ants are girls and all of them are relatives, in fact they are all sisters. You can get lots of types, the Queen, soldier, worker. I can’t name them all but there are lots. You can get different types – well different shapes and sizes, it depends. Some grow up to be a worker, some grow up to be a soldier and some if they are lucky will grow to be a Queen if they eat the right things. The Queen lays 30,000 eggs per day – thats a record!!! Some of the ants go to the canopy and some collect leaves from just down below. There are more than 4 million in one single nest. They make their own path because if anything falls on the proper path it would be like climbing over the mountain and if they are on their own path that will not happen.